Neither side seemed like it was playing to win. For Republicans, especially, this was a hearing to survive. No YouTube moments or arguments with Mark Kelly, Giffords’s husband. For Democrats, this was about avoiding unforced errors and not doing anything that would stall whatever momentum there is for action on gun control.

I don't do Facebook, so I am unable to leave my comment. Would someone be so kind as to post it there?

Ms. Myers, if she knew her history better, might recall that Martin Luther King and other civil rights leaders slept soundly, safe from harm by the Klan, when they were guarded by the Deacons for Defense and Justice, a black militia made up largely of veterans and CARRYING MILITARY SURPLUS WEAPONS they had brought back from World War 2 and Korea.

She might also recall that the first gun control laws (and many afterward) were written to keep firearms out the hands of black folks, even freedmen. Martin Luther King was no saint, but he understood that cowards in sheets were less likely to be overawed by Gandhian civil disobedience than by a single full-auto M-2 carbine with a thirty round magazine in the hands of a black man who knew how to use it. If he saw any hypocrisy in that, it is lost to history. A history, not to put too fine a point on it, that Ms. Myers would do well to study before summoning a faux outrage about Martin Luther King that he himself did not share.

The media is missing the real story behind the “postponement” of the largest outdoor show in America. This is a story of ignorance, bias and a gross misunderstanding of America and Americans.

This unfortunate fight began when Reed Exhibitions, a British events organizing company, announced that firearms and products associated with modern sporting rifles (guns the media has given the dubious label “assault rifles”) wouldn’t be allowed at the Eastern Sports and Outdoor Show. The show was scheduled to begin on February 2 in Harrisburg, Penn.

Reed Exhibitions prohibition also extended to images of modern sporting rifles. They wanted to whitewash a firearm category with Orwellian zeal from the show because they deem these semi-automatic rifles to be too militaristic for civilian use. They mandated this ban at America’s largest outdoor show, a show that regularly attracts 200,000 outdoor enthusiasts and pumps an estimated $44 million into the region’s economy. . .

The backlash was fast and grassroots. Reports that companies were pulling out of the show quickly began to snowball. Cabela’s, a major sponsor (Cabela’s has a store in Harrisburg), was one of the first to announce it wouldn’t participate. Soon groups like the National Rifle Association, the National Wild Turkey Federation, the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, and companies like Ruger, Smith & Wesson, Crimson Trace, Trijicon and many more started to publicly announce they were canceling plans to attend in protest—this despite real costs to their bottom lines.

Now that we're down to one car, my daily drive takes me past a number of WalMarts, and I lose little in gas expenditure when I stop by to window shop and gauge the marketplace. The WalMarts around here actually got some .22 Long Rifle in about 48 hours ago, but within 12 - 24 hours, depending upon the store, they were gone. There is a growing band of "store jumpers" who, when they learn that one store received some, go to every store they can easily reach (for some that may mean within a twenty mile radius) to see if any are left at other locations. They see each other at the various locations and smile knowingly. The rationing of 3 boxes per person per day is still on, so it is not entirely a matter of a horse race, winner take all -- hence the smiles.

But one fellow I asked said that he was memorizing when the regular sporting goods counter person would go to lunch and then wait in the parking lot until he could double up on his cull with the relief. He sniffed at my observation that the gas money was probably killing him.

"So?" he replied. "At least I'm getting the ammo." But why .22, I asked? I mean, I could understand combat ammo in 12 Gauge and military and police rifle and pistol calibers but why did he think that .22 Long Rifle was so scarce?

"It's the only thing I can afford to shoot these days," came the answer.

The bill coming out of Leahy’s committee is expected to include universal background checks but not a more contentious ban on the sale of assault weapons pushed by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Schumer, a co-sponsor.

Schumer has also been seeking bipartisan backing for his own universal background checks proposal, including talks with Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Mark Kirk (R-Ill.). Another conservative Republican, Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, has signaled that he’d be open to such a proposal but has not endorsed a bill yet.

The Feinstein bill was a red herring all along. It's forcing us to get the government's approval for private sales (and the registration lists that flow from that) that they're really after,

This is a standing invitation to my fellow Americans: If congress ever enacts a law mandating the registration and/or a production ban of detachable magazine semiautomatic rifles then you are hereby invited to the town square of your local community. There, burn barrels will be set up and we will publicly burn Form 4473s, FFL Bound Books, state and local registration records, and the sales receipts for every firearm in the United States. On that same day, FFL holders and public officials holding electronic firearms records will simultaneously erase those records, permanently and irretrievably. (Using special file erasure software such as Blancco, X-Ways, and Stellar Wipe, or though the physical destruction of disk drives.)

Spontaneous Gatherings, Spontaneous Combustion

This burn barrel day--likely to be held the day after the President signs any new draconian legislation--will include speeches, public prayers, and the blessing of those who have gathered by ministers, rabbis, and priests.

The core of the activities on that day will be stalwart public defiance of any new unconstitutional law(s), the open and notorious destruction of records that might be used to enslave us, and vocal public affirmations of solidarity of free men and women, in the face of tyranny. This will be a defining moment for America--a line drawn in the sand. We will forthrightly declare that we will not obey any unconstitutional law and that we will treat it dismissively, as if it had never been enacted -- nunc pro tunc. We will pledge ourselves to the defense of liberty, both individually and collectively. We will vow that if ever called to jury duty, we will nullify any unconstitutional laws, vacating the charges against the accused, in accordance with our long-standing right as jurors. (See: www.FIJA.org.)

The Law is On Our Side

We will publicly re-affirm some long standing precepts of American jurisprudence, to wit:

"The General rule is that an unconstitutional statute, though having the form and name of law is in reality no law, but is wholly void, and ineffective for any purpose; since unconstitutionality dates from the time of it's enactment and not merely from the date of the decision so branding it. An unconstitutional law, in legal contemplation, is as inoperative as if it had never been passed. Such a statute leaves the question that it purports to settle just as it would be had the statute not been enacted.

Since an unconstitutional law is void, the general principles follow that it imposes no duties, confers no rights, creates no office, bestows no power or authority on anyone, affords no protection, and justifies no acts performed under it...

A void act cannot be legally consistent with a valid one. An unconstitutional law cannot operate to supersede any existing valid law. Indeed, insofar as a statute runs counter to the fundamental law of the lend, it is superseded thereby.

No one is bound to obey an unconstitutional law and no courts are bound to enforce it." - 16 Am Jur 2d, Sec 177 late 2d, Sec 256

Never Again!

Recognizing the many sad lessons of civilian disarmament and subsequent genocides in the 20th Century, we will make bold and forthright statement: Never Again! We will not submit to the unlawful decrees of tyrants. We will not meekly go their jails and internment camps. We will fight for our liberty, to our dying breath.

Come Armed, Come Masked

I recommend that all adults who publicly assemble at these burn barrel events do so armed, as is our right. And those who come armed should also wear masks, to protect themselves from malicious prosecution. I plan to wear a Guy Fawkes mask, but you can wear a bandana, face muffler, or the face mask of your choice. Joining you, also wearing masks, will be many mayors, sheriffs and their deputies, chiefs of police and their officers, town council members, clergy, and people of all walks of life. We vastly outnumber the tyrants. The tyrants deserve nothing but our scorn and derision. Their fate is already sealed.

Plausible Denial

After this fateful day has come and gone, FFL holders and public officials will be able to recount: "I had no choice. My records were taken by men with guns who were wearing masks!" (So they'll have no excuse if they don't cooperate with this nationwide display of civil disobedience.)

Lawrence Sellin, Ph.D. is a retired colonel with 29 years of service in the US Army Reserve and a veteran of Afghanistan and Iraq. Colonel Sellin is the author of “Afghanistan and the Culture of Military Leadership“.

I have been trying to find lead wheel weights around this town and all my traditional sources have a. dried up because of long-term commitments to others who contracted to buy them all and b. the prices for what's available have doubled or tripled. Oh, well.

Data Masters See The Future. Perhaps, but this does little to defeat 4th Generation open source insurgency when the practitioners aren't part of even a loosely based network, but act individually and in small teams based upon ideas and informal rules of engagement and the targeting of elite decision makers.

Which made the whole exercise worthwhile. Thanks for all your suggestions about what a fair price was. Unfortunately the Bessemer show is small, so the numbers of folks looking for AK74 stuff was smaller (not that there weren't long lines out to the highway standing waiting to get in). Still, it was enough although I was seriusly insulted by some of the first offers. Many of the prices for weapons were still outrageous compared to a few months ago, but, hey, that's the market.

Friday, January 25, 2013

Need to raise some quick money for utility bills and meds so I am taking some items to the Bessemer gun show tomorrow. What I'd like to know is what is a fair price for the AK-74 magazines and ammo I have to sell? (Long ago sold my 74 and I found these in the basement while cleaning out looking for reloading components.)

First is a orange bakelite 30 rounder (East German, I think). It looks like this:

Next I have 4 polymer Bulgarian 30 rounders, 2 from Factory 10, 1 from Factory 21, 1 from Factory 25:

The last magazine is a steel one (Romanian?) that looks like this:

All are in used but excellent condition. Finally I have 360 rounds of Russian 5.45 x 39 ammunition, repacked in AK-74 stripper clips and US 4 pocket bandoleers with the stripper clip guides.

The prices on the Internet are no guide because everybody is out of stock. I was thinking $250-$300 for the whole, but a buddy just called me to say $400.00 was more reflective of what's there. Fair? You tell me.

Clarence C. Ware and Charles R. Plaudo of "The Filthy Thirteen" painting each other's faces on the afternoon of June 5, 1944

James “Jake” McNiece has died. Leader of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment's Pathfinders, dubbed "The Filthy Thirteen," McNiece and his men were parachuted into France on the night before D-Day to blow up bridges over the Douve River. McNeice's 18 men destroyed two bridges and controlled a third to prevent German reinforcements from moving into Normandy and to cut off retreating German troops. Sixteen of his men were killed during the 36 days after D-Day, during which they were also tasked with cutting enemy communications and supply lines.

McNiece never achieved a rank higher than first sergeant because he had trouble with regulations and extending his leaves without permission. He was a sergeant in combat but usually was demoted to private for his behavior between missions.

The paratroopers in his squadron often showed a reluctance to follow military regulations and procedures, and his outfit became known as the “Filthy 13.”

The D-Day jump was the first of four jumps McNiece made behind enemy lines. Before the mission, he shaved most of his head, leaving a scalp lock that ran down the middle of his head. He joked to his squadron it was an American Indian custom to do that before battle, but he really shaved his head for sanitary reasons to avoid lice, realizing he could spend days without bathing. Most other squadron members shaved their heads also.

By dawn on June 6, McNiece and his squad had destroyed their two assigned bridges and had a third wired for detonation. Their orders were to hold the bridge over the (Douve) River and save it if possible so advancing Allied troops and tanks could use it. His men held the bridge for three days until American warplanes swooped down and bombed the structure.

In September 1944, McNiece led paratroopers who were dropped near Eindhoven, Holland, to hold key bridges in the liberation of the town the Germans had occupied for five years.

After fighting 78 days in Holland . . . He led paratroopers at Bastogne, Belgium, during the Battle of the Bulge. His last jump was Feb. 13, 1945, near Prume, Germany, to resupply Gen. George Patton’s 3rd Army.

Saxby Chambliss to retire. This is both good and bad news. Good because he's another RINO "deal maker" and bad because he can do a lot of damage now that he has no pressure on him to seek re-election -- especially when it comes to a sellout on firearms rights.

Newt Gingrich to Piers Morgan: Lovely gun ‘propaganda’ Yeah, well I remember distinctly a conversation with Gingrich's chief of staff right after they won power in '94, promising us a repeal of the first AWB -- which we never got. Heck, they didn't even try in a serious fashion because Bob Dole didn't want them to.

A report received yesterday by Gun Rights Examiner indicates at least one military installation is still destroying expended ammunition brass, despite a furor raised in the gun community a few years back that resulted in two senators intervening to stop the practice and allow for its resale for reloading. The Dec. 2012 Integrated Solid Waste Management Plan for Fort Drum, N.Y., marked “Revision 1,” describes its policy for brass and expended munitions as part of its installation recycling program, which includes rendering expended ammunition brass unsuitable for anything but scrap.

We need to make this go viral, folks. Send it to every Second Amendment and pro-liberty email list you can.

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, moving to take a lead role in the gun control debate, is turning up the pressure on banks that do business with firearms manufacturers.

Emanuel is sending letters to two major financial institutions, TD Bank and Bank of America, which offer lines of credit to gun makers suggesting that they stop lending money to the manufacturers if they don’t come out for new gun restrictions.

I pointed out that this would only get more line infantry people killed, because of the lack of stamina and upper body strength in females as well as the complex sociology interactions that would be threats to good order and discipline. He responded, "Well, it's not like the progressives' kids are going to get killed, is it?" He later added:

If you think about what women in combat roles would do and why the progressive admin would want to push for it you have to look a little further back to women's suffrage. What happened after women got the right to vote was that increasingly in each election cycle the women's vote became more and more socialist/democrat/progressive. As you plainly saw in the last two election cycles, the presidential election is nothing more than a Dancing with the Stars popularity vote. What person in their right mind would vote for the boring Mormon guy who is good with numbers? Besides, like, Obama knows Beyonce and Jay-Z, and he takes publicity pictures hanging curtains, and he loves his dog Bo and his wife and two daughters, and he is sooo cool. If women have shifted the balance of the electorate to debase the electoral process to such base feelings then why would it not work for the military? If you could get enough women and feminized men in the military then eventually the paradigm would shift from a bunch of sons of red state hicks and political wanna-be's to a progressive people's army that they always dreamed of. It does not have to make sense but I am sure where you can see the logic. If their little experiment bears fruit then to their detriment they will learn that having a gun does not make you a rifleman. But like I said, it is not like this social experiment will involve their daughters.

(CNSNews.com) - Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Thursday will celebrate the launch of a newly rebranded organization called the “100,000 Strong Foundation,” which aims to have 100,000 American students studying in China by 2014.

Thursday's event will "underscore the importance of study abroad in China and the benefits to our strategic relationship with China as well as the personal benefits individuals receive through these exciting experiences," the news release said.

Until now, the 100,000 Strong Initiative -- announced by President Obama on his trip to China in 2009 -- has operated inside the State Department. Thursday's 1 p.m. ceremony marks its transition to a non-profit, nongovernmental organization operating independently.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton officially launched the Obama initiative in May 2010 in Beijing. "China has established dozens of Confucius Institutes across the United States that offer Chinese language instruction and cultural programs to help Americans better understand China," Clinton said at the time. "We would like to see similar American language and culture centers on the campuses of Chinese universities."

I wouldn't worry about the students being propagandized for race war, though, since I see most of them playing hooky, cruising around during school hours and hanging at the liquor store in the old strip mall next door (which also includes my favorite thrift store).

Harry Reid, Mitch McConnell near filibuster deal. What the GOP lacked the cojones to demand when they controlled the Senate is now being agreed to by those same treasonous fossils. It is important to remember that the War Between the States came about as the result of repeated failures of the political leadership of all parties. Here we go again.

I was required by events to shuttle around Birmingham and its outskirts today, so I made a point of checking in on firearm and ammunition retailers. At Academy Sports in Trussville, this sign was put up about every four feet on the ammo shelves, which were almost bare:

Due To product availability, we are currently limiting purchase quantities on the following:

AMMUNITION

The following ammunition calibers are located at Customer Service and limited to:

One (1) box per caliber, three (3) boxes total per customer, per day for: 9mm, 40, 45, .223, 5.56, .308 and 22LR

We are committed to servicing as many customers as possible.

I checked WalMarts in Birmingham, Trussville, Leeds and Pell City. They also had a three box per day maximum imposed, although they had more ammo on the shelves as supplies begin to flow through their system again.

For example, I was told by one manager that they had a relatively large shipment of Winchester 12 Gauge come in yesterday. (This was true of all four stores which are served by the same distribution center.) It consisted of 2.75' and 3" 00 Buckshot and slugs in 5 and 15 round boxes. Even with the restrictions, by this afternoon all four stores were pretty well cleaned out of the shipment. Two managers (one of whom knows me) assured me that the rumors floating around that WalMart is going to stop selling ammunition, or that they are holding product in the warehouses, are categorically untrue.

I chatted with several customers at all the stores I visited and there was no sense of "I-gotta-get-it-before-it-becomes-unobtainium." Rather, most were just "stocking up," as one put it, "because one of these days we're going to have to use it."

One small gunshop had a sign on the door: "No hi-cap magazines for ARs, AKs, etc." While I was leaving, a fellow came up to the door, read the sign, and walked back to his car.

A friend reminds me that the citizen disarmament advocates at Mayors Against Illegal Guns have very cooperatively given us a list of their Gauleiters & Collectivist Myrmidons Society: Coalition Members. For future reference? That's up to them.

I was talking to a buddy the other day and he called the whole concept "warmed-over feudalism," asking "who do you think will call the shots in this 'patriot paradise?'" He added, "Once they've got the investors' money, even if they ever get that God-forsaken patch of undeveloped land put into livable shape with OPM and people move in, it will be Kerodin and Company who rule it. . . It reminds me of the Jim Jones character 'The Governor' who runs that Georgia town in 'The Walking Dead.'" (MBV Note: 'OPM' is his shorthand for 'Other People's Money,' which my friend pronounces as 'opium.')

Today was a prep day -- we cast about 800 230 Grain .45 ACP lead bullets and deprimed a couple thousand pieces of .45, .38 & .30-06 brass, as well as sorted a mess of range pick-ups. We will eventually run the .45s through a Dillon RL1050 after we have components to build a couple of thousand of them.

Sorry about my absence from the blog but I have to tell you the camaraderie and repetitive manual labor went well together. I really enjoyed the break from the computer.

I've been hoeing out the basement lately, gathering components bought years ago and today I'll spend the morning at a reloading party to put them together into something more complete. Can't afford (or find locally) 230 Grain .45 FMJs so we're going to be casting some lead pills out of wheel weights and such. Consider this my Ammunition Appreciation Day.

Assault-rifle owners statewide are organizing a mass boycott of Gov. Cuomo’s new law mandating they register their weapons, daring officials to “come and take it away,” The Post has learned.

Gun-range owners and gun-rights advocates are encouraging hundreds of thousands of owners to defy the law, saying it’d be the largest act of civil disobedience in state history.

“I’ve heard from hundreds of people that they’re prepared to defy the law, and that number will be magnified by the thousands, by the tens of thousands, when the registration deadline comes,’’ said Brian Olesen, president of the American Shooters Supply, one of the largest gun dealers in the state.

Thousands of firearm owners turned out at “Gun Appreciation Day” rallies across the state on Saturday, denouncing Gov. Cuomo and decrying his new gun control law. It was a surprising spectacle, considering that in the weeks and days leading up to the Legislature’s passage of the sweeping reform bill last week, ardent Second Amendment supporters were nowhere to be seen.

“It goes against past experience,” Assemblyman Micah Kellner, a Manhattan Democrat who voted for the bill, said of the pro-gun paradox in Albany. “There was plenty of time to be there and be heard.”

A few dozen workers from the upstate Remington gun manufacturing plant trekked to Albany to demonstrate, no doubt worried about their jobs. But otherwise the absence of protestors at the Capitol was particularly astonishing, given the gun lobby’s vow to rile up its troops once it became clear in December that Cuomo was pushing for speedy passage of an expansion of the state’s assault weapons ban and a limit on the size of ammunition magazines, among other measures.

The turnout was in stark contrast to the gay marriage debate of two years ago, when the Capitol’s hallways were clogged with advocates on both sides of the issue as the Legislature considered the legalization proposal it was destined to approve.

And, earlier this month, it was hard to miss the hundreds of anti-hydrofracking protesters who lined a Capitol-plaza concourse that lawmakers had to use to reach the venue for Cuomo’s State of the State address.

Thomas King, who is head of the New York State Rifle & Pistol Association and a member of the National Rifle Association’s national board, was one of those who promised a major pushback against Cuomo’s drive to curb gun violence. Explaining the lobby’s misfire of advocacy, he said many gun owners couldn’t give up a day of work to come to the Capitol.

“Yes, we’re all in favor of doing whatever it takes to support the Second Amendment, but these guys have to work,” he said. “It’s not like the unions who get paid to go to Albany to protest. It’s tough for them to get out during the week.”

He said gun owners “trusted in their legislators who had always supported them in the past, the Republican Senate, to continue to do so.”

You know, I was talking to Bob Wright by telephone last night and he was making this point, that it is long past time that our side quit being so deferential to Only Ones (LEOs) and he included the military in that assessment as well. I agreed, pointing out that corporation generals like Stanley McChrystal are predisposed from their careers (anyone one star and above can be confidently described as a military politician) to go-along get-along with the regime.

It is the oath and the actions taken in support of it that is the key to determining who is deserving of our support and trust. (And keep an eye on 'em anyway.)

This week, Kerodin responded angrily on his blog, saying “Little Mikey Vanderboegh is attempting, once again, to hurt hundreds of Patriots, using me as a weapon.”

He asked if Vanderboegh had enough “courage to ever meet me face-to-face and repeat your written words,” and dared him to show up at a meeting on April 19, the anniversary of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. “Insignificant people like Vanderboegh will always seek to attack the winners in life,” the convicted felon sniffed. “For those Patriots involved in the Citadel project, march on!”

. . . Kerodin’s associate, James L. Miller, who identifies himself as president of III Arms Co., also responded angrily to the project’s critics on the Citadel’s Facebook page. “Folks, we are being slandered by some very disgusting people, and that slander has been furthered by someone a lot of us probably both trusted and respected: James Wesley, Rawles,” Miller wrote.

“Mr. Rawles, without researching a single bit of the cut/paste hatchet job from a cancer ridden, soon-to-expire self-admitted communist, has insulted the intelligence of Patriots all across the globe,” Miller wrote.

Not that facts matter to either Kerodin or Miller, but that's a self-admitted EX-communist and, in view of that experience, ardent ANTI-communist. Also, reports of my impending death have been greatly exaggerated, even if sincerely wished for by Eric Holder, my ex-wife and, apparently Kerodin and his ilk.

The funniest thing is Mr. Hyman's challenge. As I recall the Code Duello, as the challenged party in a duel I have the choice of weapons. But since Mr. Hyman/Kerodin is a convicted felon, presumably he's not allowed modern firearms (although I'm sure the ATF might be persuaded to give him a note of permission in this case). What then should I agree to, gentle readers? Suggestions?

The past Monday I decided to visit the Minuteman Park in Lexington and pay tribute to Captain John Parker and his fellow minutemen. A thought came to my mind, that the founding fathers of the United States and Chairman Mao had one thing in common: they all realized that guns are important political instruments. Their similarities, however, ended there:

Chairman Mao wrote: ‘Political power grows out of barrel of a gun’, and he dictated: ‘The party shall command the gun’. James Madison and his compatriots, however, believing that the power of the state is derived from the consent of the governed, ratified that ‘the right to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed’.

"23 years ago, I was a college freshman exercising my freedom of speech and assembly in Tian’anmen Square, much like we are doing here today. We grew frustrated by the restriction of personal freedoms and the corrupted Chinese government, and we thought peaceful protest would make the country better. Our young passion and patriotism was crushed by hails of full metal jackets out of AK47’s. (Some AK purists here would argue they were really type 56’s). We could not fight back, because we did not have an inch of iron in our hands, to borrow a Chinese expression: we were unarmed."

Gun-makers already offer polymer magazines that Slater confirmed would be more or less equivalent to any created in a home printer. She said that Israel is not targeting those companies, but is more "focused on the lone wolf" who might make one at home.

She did not say how legislation could be crafted that would prohibit one but not the other; the proposal is being re-drafted in light of the new requirements, and the language isn't set down yet. They expect to be able to reintroduce the bill within a month or two.

WASHINGTON, DC – A senior U.S. general has confirmed that the military has secretly drawn up plans to round up large numbers of privately-owned firearms from American gun owners.

General James M. Scott of the U.S. Air Force confirmed that the Pentagon received a series of formal directives from the White House between November 7 and December 13 to begin plans for a massive nationwide operation to confiscate guns using a series of federal databases compiled over the last few decades.

General Scott spoke with Duffel Blog reporters in a parking garage in northern Virginia.

Scott also confirmed that a certain four-star general who heads the U.S. Transportation Command was intimately involved in the planning. General Scott would not reveal the general’s name out of concerns for his safety.

The plan, known in the military as Operation PREAKNESS, combines a series of tactics developed for house sweeps and room clearing in Iraq and Afghanistan, which General Scott admitted had been used as test-runs for the U.S.

C'mon people! Haven't you ever read Seven Days in May or seen the movie at least? The plot to overthrow the government in 7DIM is called Operation Preakness and the principal conspirator is Air Force General James Mattoon Scott (played in the movie by Burt Lancaster). There's a lot of disinformation out there right now but this one is just too easy to spot. Somebody's pulling your leg.

There is a letter in the Saturday Cedar Rapids Gazette calling for stricter gun controls and arguing from the authority of being a hunting sportsman. A typical Fudd? But the letter is full of things that just seem wrong for an actual hunter to say, particularly the sentence, "I do not use bullets that implode upon contact." Even if you assume a simple slip of the tongue saying 'implode' when he meant 'expand' or 'explode' (an extremely odd slip of the tongue), do you know a single actual hunter who doesn't use expanding ammunition? I suspect this 'Vern Miller' is actually a fake Fudd.

The anti-gun nut Drudge linked to who brandished an AK on the state house floor in VA was disbarred as a lawyer for a vicious assault and beating of a man in 1999. No wonder why he doesn't want citizens to be armed! As pro gun people, we should welcome the chance to make him the face of the anti-gun movement.

I drove to Sacramento today for the "Gun Appreciation Day" rally. One of the conservative speakers that is assigned to the Capital said there is a bill to limit the amount of ammo you can buy. You will have to get a permit to buy the ammo, then fill out a form telling the Government what you used it for before trying to buy any more.

California's Legislator is dominated by Democrats, so any law they want to pass THEY CAN.

(I)t is imaginable that a number of Northeastern Republicans (and some others from across the country) might—as Republicans in the New York legislature recently did—back moderate gun-safety legislation. But for that to happen, the legislation has to be brought up for a House vote.

That’s far more likely to happen if the Senate has passed gun-safety legislation. It’s not just a matter of strengthening the popular argument for House action; there are practical tools—including the budget process and conference committees—for increasing the pressure on the House to act.

And this returns us to the filibuster.

For the Senate to act on gun safety, the essential first step is to end the abuse of the filibuster.

WSAZ reported: "The make-believe scenario is timely. Two school employees who are disgruntled over the government's interpretation of the Second Amendment, plot to use chemical, biological and radiological agents against members of the local community."

"It's the reality of the world we live in," says Portsmouth Police Chief Bill Raisin. "Don't forget there is such a thing as domestic terrorism. This helps us all be prepared."

Oh, yeah, right. That makes sense. We're supposed to be pissed off at the Feds so we use WMDs on our friends and neighbors? Methinks these federal fellators like Portsmouth Police Chief Raisin ought to be reminded by their constituents who the hell they serve.

"Progress made under the shadow of the policeman's club is false progress."

I believe that liberty is the only genuinely valuable thing that men have invented, at least in the field of government, in a thousand years. I believe that it is better to be free than to be not free, even when the former is dangerous and the latter safe. I believe that the finest qualities of man can flourish only in free air – that progress made under the shadow of the policeman's club is false progress, and of no permanent value. I believe that any man who takes the liberty of another into his keeping is bound to become a tyrant, and that any man who yields up his liberty, in however slight the measure, is bound to become a slave. -- H.L. Mencken

On the efficacy of passive resistance in the face of the collectivist beast. . .

Had the Japanese got as far as India, Gandhi's theories of "passive resistance" would have floated down the Ganges River with his bayoneted, beheaded carcass. -- Mike Vanderboegh.

In the future . . .

When the histories are written, “National Rifle Association” will be cross-referenced with “Judenrat.” -- Mike Vanderboegh to Sebastian at "Snowflakes in Hell"

"Smash the bloody mirror."

If you find yourself through the looking glass, where the verities of the world you knew and loved no longer apply, there is only one thing to do. Knock the Red Queen on her ass, turn around, and smash the bloody mirror. -- Mike Vanderboegh

From Kurt Hoffman over at Armed and Safe.

"I believe that being despised by the despicable is as good as being admired by the admirable."

From long experience myself, I can only say, "You betcha."

"Only cowards dare cringe."

The fears of man are many. He fears the shadow of death and the closed doors of the future. He is afraid for his friends and for his sons and of the specter of tomorrow. All his life's journey he walks in the lonely corridors of his controlled fears, if he is a man. For only fools will strut, and only cowards dare cringe. -- James Warner Bellah, "Spanish Man's Grave" in Reveille, Curtis Publishing, 1947.

"We fight an enemy that never sleeps."

"As our enemies work bit by bit to deconstruct, we must work bit by bit to REconstruct. Be mindful where we should be. Set goals. We fight an enemy that never sleeps. We must learn to sleep less." -- Mike H. at What McAuliffe Said

"The Fate of Unborn Millions. . ."

"The time is now near at hand which must probably determine, whether Americans are to be, Freemen, or Slaves; whether they are to have any property they can call their own; whether their Houses, and Farms, are to be pillaged and destroyed, and they consigned to a State of Wretchedness from which no human efforts will probably deliver them. The fate of unborn Millions will now depend, under God, on the Courage and Conduct of this army-Our cruel and unrelenting Enemy leaves us no choice but a brave resistance, or the most abject submission; that is all we can expect-We have therefore to resolve to conquer or die." -- George Washington to his troops before the Battle of Long Island.

"We will not go gently . . ."

This is no small thing, to restore a republic after it has fallen into corruption. I have studied history for years and I cannot recall it ever happening. It may be that our task is impossible. Yet, if we do not try then how will we know it can't be done? And if we do not try, it most certainly won't be done. The Founders' Republic, and the larger war for western civilization, will be lost.

But I tell you this: We will not go gently into that bloody collectivist good night. Indeed, we will make with our defiance such a sound as ALL history from that day forward will be forced to note, even if they despise us in the writing of it.

And when we are gone, the scattered, free survivors hiding in the ruins of our once-great republic will sing of our deeds in forbidden songs, tending the flickering flame of individual liberty until it bursts forth again, as it must, generations later. We will live forever, like the Spartans at Thermopylae, in sacred memory.

-- Mike Vanderboegh, The Lessons of Mumbai:Death Cults, the "Socialism of Imbeciles" and Refusing to Submit, 1 December 2008

"A common language of resistance . . ."

"Colonial rebellions throughout the modern world have been acts of shared political imagination. Unless unhappy people develop the capacity to trust other unhappy people, protest remains a local affair easily silenced by traditional authority. Usually, however, a moment arrives when large numbers of men and women realize for the first time that they enjoy the support of strangers, ordinary people much like themselves who happen to live in distant places and whom under normal circumstances they would never meet. It is an intoxicating discovery. A common language of resistance suddenly opens to those who are most vulnerable to painful retribution the possibility of creating a new community. As the conviction of solidarity grows, parochial issues and aspirations merge imperceptibly with a compelling national agenda which only a short time before may have been the dream of only a few. For many Americans colonists this moment occurred late in the spring of 1774." -- T.H. Breen, The Marketplace of Revolution: How Consumer Politics Shaped American Independence, Oxford University Press, 2004, p.1.